What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on your computer, mobile or any other device by websites that you visit. It means if you come back, we can recognise it’s you and communicate with you more effectively.

Cookies are used to make sure websites function and work better. They give us more information about what our users are doing online and what they are interested in so we can make your visit to our website as smooth as possible.

Want to know a bit more? Visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org

Session cookies

These are temporary cookies that only stay in the cookie file on your browser until you close it. They are used to operate different functions on our website and to store and remember information about your activity on our site. This means if you’ve previously completed personal information on our site, you won’t need to take the time to type it out again and again. We’ll automatically remember and enter it for you, making life a little easier!

Persistent cookies

These stay in your browser’s cookie file for longer – just how long depends on the specific type of cookie. These cookies are used to track how many times you visit a website, whether you are returning or visiting for the first time, and how you interact with a site. They can be of help in matching content to your interests and preferences – for example, your language choice. Rest assured that these cookies cannot be used by themselves to identify you.

How we use cookies

Cookie use can vary site by site. We use cookies for lots of different reason, including:

• Helping our customers find prices on products that interest them (session cookies).
   

• Making sure our site functions properly (session cookies).
   

• Keeping an eye on website traffic and tracking what our visitors are doing on our site
  (persistent cookies).
   

• Helping us target and personalise our online marketing by collecting anonymous data about our visitors and their website use (persistent cookies).
   

• Helping us improve the experience of anyone who visits our website. These include Google Marketing Platform cookies, which give us anonymous and total statistics (collected data) on how users interact with our website. We use this data to continuously improve our site structure and the online customer journey so you can have the best experience.

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What cookies do we use and why?

• Necessary cookies – these are needed for our site’s basic features to work. They don’t store any personally identifiable data.
   

• Performance and analytics cookies – these help us to do things like share a website’s content on social media platforms, collecting feedback and other third party features. We use these to understand how visitors interact with our site and they give us information on measures like the number of visitors, traffic source and bounce rate.
   

• Advertisement cookies – these personalise the experience for our website visitors and help ensure the adverts you see are relevant to you. We use them to show you relevant adverts on third-party platforms such as social media and search engines. These cookies collect information about your visit to our website, including pages viewed and actions taken. This information may be used to deliver personalised adverts to you on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Google, Microsoft (Bing) and similar services. We do not use this information to directly identify you. We also use these cookies to analyse the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns.

 

How Google uses your data

We use Google services, including Google Analytics and Google Ads, to understand how visitors use our website and to measure and improve our advertising. Where you have given consent through our cookie banner, Google may collect and process information about your visit, such as cookies, device identifiers and your IP address.

For more information on how Google uses this data, please see Google’s Business Data Responsibility site, ‘How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services’: https://business.safety.google/privacy/.

 

Use of cookies by third parties and associated websites

Where our website includes links to and from other websites, we do not accept responsibility or liability for the content of these sites or they cookies they use. It is the responsibility of those websites to have their own cookie policy and to get the right of consent from you to use cookies.

Managing cookies

When you first visit our website, we will ask for your consent before we set any cookies that are not strictly necessary. Necessary cookies are needed for our website to work and are always active. Performance and analytics cookies and advertisement cookies are only set if you accept them using our cookie banner. If you reject them, or close the banner without making a choice, they will not be set.

You can change your mind at any time by updating your choices in the cookie settings on our website. If you withdraw your consent, we will stop setting those cookies from that point onwards.

You can also block or delete cookies using your browser settings. The “Help” menu of most browsers will tell you how to do this. Please note that if you block necessary cookies, some parts of our website may not work properly. For more information about cookies and how to manage or delete them, visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org.

How to contact us

If you have any questions, comments or requests regarding this Cookie Policy, please email our Data Protection Officer: DPO@thehearingpeople.co.uk